


An Act of Kindness

by Play_Read_Write



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Ruby just really wants to believe in the good, both in people and the world, super heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-29 23:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8509420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Play_Read_Write/pseuds/Play_Read_Write
Summary: When Ruby sees one of her nemesis, Shadow Cat, being charitable, she wonders just how bad she really is, and decides to try and bring her out of the dark.





	

Yang took a power stance, one foot in front the other, kneeling down as she slammed her fist into the ground. Cracks formed and fire shot up from it, erupting in a few areas around her like flaming geysers. She pulled her fist out and took up a fighting stance then, fists held in front of her. Nova Fist was her title, and she planned to live up to it, especially against these two.

Before her stood two people clad in black. Both wore masks identical in shape, one was black and the other white with red. Members of the White Fang, an organization devoted to chaos and fear. One of a few organizations, but significant for having only faunus members. Her current foes had a set of cat ears and a pair of horns, and she’d fought them both before. Shadow Cat and Dark Bull, practically nemesis of hers at this point. Luckily she wasn’t alone.

A red blur shot around her in an erratic pattern, almost unpredictable, causing her to grin. As Dark Bull jumped back to avoid the red streak Yang jumped as well to slam her fist into him, only to be blocked by his blade. Luckily for her she had her aura to keep from losing a few fingers.

Ruby, also known as the Red Rush, zipped around the street turned battlefield. She didn’t have the greatest agility, especially with her speed, so she couldn’t turn on a dime or anything. Being able to move fast enough to almost be invisible had its advantages though, and she could cover the small area back and forth in no time. Unfortunately their opponents held increased speed to.

She burst forward with her fist drawn. It collided with Shadow Cat, but only for a moment. She earned her name by being just behind the copy, swinging her blade. Ruby barely managed to duck under it, her momentum already carrying her forward. Swinging around wide she headed for Yang, moving behind her and then around to try and get him from two sides. As they both attacked he sidestepped a powerful punch from Yang and blocked Ruby’s strike with his sheath. As his knee rose Ruby barely managed to stop her momentum and backpedal to avoid it.

Yang leapt back with a fiery blast, skidding a bit as she landed. Not even a half a second later Ruby stopped in front of her. “Scorching!” She called out, drawing her arms back and then throwing them forward in a double punch, a fireball coming off of each one.

“Cyclone!” Ruby finished the attack name. She held her arms out in front of her and rotated them rapidly, creating two wind tunnels that drew in and fueled the fireballs, combining together. She gritted her teeth as she felt the heat, moving her arms to direct the flaming twisters at their enemies. The attacks were useful, but even with her aura she could still feel heat. She was immune to friction heat thanks to her semblance, but unlike her sister she wasn’t fireproof so she couldn’t hold this up forever. Luckily she heard sirens, signaling their backup.

Yang stood behind her as a guard, helping her hold her ground. She couldn’t move and do this at the same time, so if Yang tried to go on the offensive if left Ruby open to a blindside strike. Her breath started coming heavier, between the heat and the stress of the move she was starting to wear out. She could hear Yang fire off a few blasts as they tried to get around, and then a shout.

“Rush, they’re running, drop it!” Yang cried, causing Ruby to relax, dropping to her hands and knees, panting and sweating. She threw a powerful punch at the two fleeing figures, a blast of intense fire moving at high speed caught up to them, only for them to disappear like a mirage. “What? Where?” she asked, looking around, but not seeing anyone else. “Damn it.” She says, and then kneels down beside Ruby. “Hey Rubes, you doing okay?” She asks.

“Yeah… totally.” Ruby says through heavy breathing, holding up one hand with her thumb up. “Could use some water though.”

“Right.” Yang says, and helps her up, wrapping an arm around her waist to support her. “Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty. You did good.”

“Thanks.” Ruby says, “Too bad they got away.”

“It’s alright, we still stopped them.” Yang says, “Besides, you pulled off that move we’ve been working on. That was awesome.”

“Yeah.” Ruby says, starting to catch her breath, “It was. Hot though, very hot. My skin feels kind of tight.”

“Sorry. Should we not do those anymore? I don’t want you to get hurt.” Yang says, a bit of concern in her voice.

“No, I’m fine.” Ruby says, “Just need to work on my aura training more.”

“Sounds like a plan, I’m sure Weiss’ll be happy to help there. She’s always glad for a way to help people while still acting like she’s better than them.”

“Yeah, helps them and her pride.” Ruby says with a chuckle.

“Anyway, looks like the sirens have finally showed up. Think you can handle them?” she asks.

“All good.” Ruby says, straightening up. They walked ahead together to meet the police. Dealing with local law enforcement was probably one of the least glamorous ways of being a hero, but also a necessary one. They were on the same side after all, if only it wasn’t so dull.

…

“Hey Yang.” Ruby says, laying on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

“What is it, Ruby?” Yang asks, looking at her from her own bed just a few feet away.

“Why do you think they do it?”

Yang lets out a sigh, looking down. “I don’t know, Ruby.” It wasn’t the first time this had come up. Pretty much every hero wondered it at some point. Of course with every villain the answer was different, so there was no one reason. Ruby seemed more fixated on it than most though. “Why do you ask?”

“I just… I don’t get it.” She admits. “They’re strong, and smart, and skilled, but they don’t help people. What’s the point of all that if you don’t use it to make things better?”

Yang smiled a bit at that. Only Ruby could see a lot of power and immediately assume that it everyone would use it for good. The girl was practically incapable of a single mean thought, assuming you didn’t earn it by pissing her off. “Not everyone sees the good in everything like you do Ruby.”

“Well they should. There’s a lot of awesome stuff.”

“Yeah they should. The world would be better if everyone thought like you.” Yang said.

“Nah, that’d be boring. Then it’d just be a bunch of different looking Ruby’s running around. I’m pretty cool, but I wouldn’t want that. People being different is one of those awesome things after all.”

Yang raised an eyebrow at that. Ruby did that sometimes too, took a very mature idea like the diversity of the world and made it sound so simple as to almost be childish. It made her question which Ruby was, childish or mature, so she settled on both. “That’s true too.” She pauses a bit, letting silence fall. “We should probably go to sleep.”

“That’s true too.” Ruby says and laughs a little.

“Twerp.” Yang says with a smile, “Good night.”

“Good night.”

…

“So, you got plans for the day?” Ruby asks over breakfast.

“Hittin’ the gym.” Yang says, “Wanna join me?”

“Maybe. I’m going for a run first though. You could come with me and then we go do your thing after.”

“Is it a normal run or a Rush run?” Yang asks, taking a bite of her own breakfast.

“Depends on if you come.”

“I think I’ll just do mine.” Yang says around a mouthful before chewing and swallowing. “Let you enjoy your run.”

“Cool. I’ll get to you after that.” Ruby says, finishing her breakfast. “See you!” she says, rushing away with her super speed and earning her name.

She always did enjoy running, though that probably came a bit from her semblance. Would be a shame to have super speed and hate running after all. She ran around the city, lapping the whole area, and then started moving through it. She ran down streets and up buildings, moving around some obstacles and over others, nothing able slow her down. It was a freeing feeling like no other.

Of course, she did have to stop eventually; even her stamina was limited after all. After running at almost mach speed for a while she was out of breath and slowed to a stop. Leaning on a building she took deep slow breathes. A work out was good, but she knew not to overwork herself.

Then her breathe caught as she saw something in front of her, eyes wide and jaw hanging. There she was, Shadow Cat. Climbing out of a window in the middle of the day, wearing her mask even. What were the odds? Thoughts started flooding Ruby’s mind. She was exhausted and out of air, so fighting would probably be unwise until she recovered, but she couldn’t just let her escape. Help wouldn’t get there fast enough either. She didn’t even have her own mask, so if people saw her using her powers she’d be exposed. She could avoid being seen when it was a run but in a close fight she’d be found out.

That was when the scene got even stranger. Shadow Cat, notorious criminal and wanted woman, was creeping along slowly with exaggerated steps, like someone sneaking in a cartoon. Ruby also now realized she was coming out of none other than a children’s hospital. None of this made sense.

“Stop villain!” A voice shouted, but not a typical voice. It was a child. Ruby looked towards the hospital entrance and saw a group of children. Some of them had obvious afflictions, such as the little girl with no hair anywhere, but some weren’t as clear. What was clear though is that they were all patients.

“Oh no, I’ve been caught!” Shadow Cat declares in an overly exaggerated tone, though Ruby can still recognize the voice. “Not that it matters, you’ll never take me!” She draws her two blades.

Ruby’s heart accelerates to a point only hers can. There was no way she was about to attack sick kids, that was too low even for her. How could she stop it though? She could probably get a bit of speed out; hold her off for a few seconds while the kids ran back inside. At least she would have done that, had she needed to.

“Gahhh!” Shadow Cat yelled, running at the kids slowly with her blades held high over her head.

“Get her!” one of the kids called out, met with cheers from the others. The group of them, including a young boy holding onto an IV on wheels, ran to meet her. They tackled her to the ground, some of them falling on top of her, some of them moving around her. “We got her, we got her!” They cheered.

“Noooooo!” Shadow Cat cried out, “My plans have been foiled! If only they hadn’t been so strong! I never stood a chance!”

“Yeahhhh!” The kids cheered some more.

“Alright children, that’s enough.” A new voice came from the entrance, someone who looked to Ruby like a nurse, or maybe a babysitter. Probably both in this case.

“We beat her! We stopped the villain!” One of them called out.

“I know you did, and a grand job you did of it too. Stopped her faster than Red Rush themselves could have.” The woman says with a smile, “Now how about you hero’s come in for some lunch? I’m sure all that villain stomping made you hungry.” The kids all get up and return, heading back to the woman, who waves at Shadow cat before entering.

Shadow Cat herself gets up and wipes the dirt off of her clothes before taking off her mask. She pockets it and pulls out a black ribbon, wrapping it up in a bow that hides her ears. She walks off, unaware of Ruby’s presence, and smiling just a bit.

…

Ruby still couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d seen. It had been almost a week since the sight on her run and she hadn’t told anyone. She wasn’t sure what she’d even say. Was there protocol for catching a villain performing an act of unmitigated kindness? They’d fought before a number of times, and she’d always seen her as the bad guy, a law breaker, it was that simple. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“Red Rush, are you there?” Goodwitch’s voice came over her earpiece, breaking her from her thoughts.

“Red Rush is on point.” Ruby said. She was sitting on a bench in the middle of the city; with her speed she could reach any point from here in two minutes tops so it was an ideal point.

“Nova Fist has been deployed to the western end, reports of Parasol being in the area. Crystal Snowflake has been sent to the north to deal with a bank robbery. They will be your only backup for today.”

“Alright, got it. Where am I headed?”

“South. An alarm went off at Oobleck Labs. We believe there’s been a break in, possible burglary. Head there and see if you can find anything.”

“Yes Ma’am, on it.” Ruby says. The conversation ends and she takes off.

It only takes her sixty two point twelve seconds to reach the lab, according to her tracker. Not a record but still good. She heads straight for the door, finding a security officer taking care of an injured partner. “What happened here?”

“Thief.” She says, “Headed that way when we caught them.” She points down the street.

“Will he be okay?”

“He’ll be fine.” She says, “It’s not fatal.”

“Right.” Ruby says, and speeds away without another word. She heads down the street, searching each alleyway and back street as she comes to it, something she only had time for thanks to her extreme speed.

Eventually she caught up, catching a glimpse of long hair and black blades. She gave chase, having to deal with them ducking around corners to try and slow her down. It wasn’t near enough though, leading the two of them two a dead end.

Shadow Cat turns around, facing her instead of running, drawing both her blades. “I suppose it’s this again.” She says, taking up a fighting stance.

Ruby stops and looks at her, standing still. “It doesn’t have to be.” She says, “Just give it back, whatever you took. Stop doing this.”

Shadow Cat paused, her ears lying down a bit. “What are you trying?”

“I’m trying to help you.” Ruby says, “You don’t have to do this. Why are you? You can do good!”

“Because I do have to, it’s who I am. The world doesn’t care about me, so why should I care about it?”

“But you do care. You can do good, I know you can, I know you want to. I saw you.”

She tenses at that, taking a more defensive posture, her ears flat. “What do you mean?”

“I saw you, at the children’s hospital. You were helping them, making them feel better. Why would you do that if you didn’t care? It doesn’t earn you anything.”

“What you think you saw wasn’t me. I didn’t do that.”

“Yes you did. That’s why you knew what I meant before I said it.” Ruby counters easily, “It wasn’t just a lookalike, it was you. I don’t want to fight you now, not if I don’t have to.”

“You do have to, it’s that or let me go.”

“I’m not going to do either.” Ruby says.

“Then how will you stop me?” Shadow Cat asks.

“Like this.” Ruby says. She starts to run back and forth between the two walls of the alleyway at high speed. Her blur creates a wall as she moves, and so does the force of the wind from her running.

“You can’t keep that up forever!” Shadow Cat shouts. At no response she moves forward and thrusts her blades into the wall, only to have them knocked back. Taking a step back she focuses her aura and slashes with both blades, sending out a wave of energy from them, and then uses her semblance to jump forward in a lunging attack, knocking Ruby aside.

Ruby hits the ground in a roll and manages to come up just in time to avoid another hit. She ducks, dodges, and weaves around each strike with her speed, focusing on seeing and avoiding the attacks rather than running as usual.

“Why. Don’t. You. Fight?” Shadow Cat asks, punctuating each word with a swing.

“I told you, I won’t fight you if I don’t have to.”

“Then you’ll lose.” She says, swinging down only to feint using her semblance, bursting through the shadow just in time to meet Ruby with her larger blade, knocking her to the ground. She plants a knee in her chest and holds her blade to Ruby’s throat.

“That won’t get through my aura.” Ruby says.

“You should stop.” Shadow Cat says, “You don’t have the heart to be a hero. The real world isn’t a fairy tale, if you think it is it’ll get you killed.”

“That’s why I fight.” Ruby says, “To make it better. I don’t have the heart to do anything else.” She stared up, looking at the horizontal slits she knew the villains eyes were behind. She could get out of this, it wouldn’t be too difficult to just do that, but she didn’t. If Shadow Cat thought she couldn’t get up, then she’d be more willing to speak.

“Look where that got you. You’ve lost.”

“No, I haven’t.” Ruby says confidently, “You haven’t hurt me. You don’t want to, because you’re actually a good person.”

“I do what I have to.”

“But you don’t have to, you could help people.” Ruby says, “Nobody evil would be smiling and pretending to be beaten by kids. Come to Beacon, help us help others and we can help you.”

“I could.” She says, “But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

“I know. You can attack people after all, hurt them, but it doesn’t mean you should. If you’re scared, afraid of what people will think of you, then just forget that. I’ve seen you do good, and that couldn’t have been the first time. I’ll vouch for you myself.”

“Why would you do something like that? The only thing you know about me is that we’ve fought.”

“No, I know you’re good too. I don’t know how you ended up with the White Fang, but you deserve better, you can have a home.”

“They are my home.”

“They don’t have to be.”

“You don’t understand. You couldn’t. What it’s like to be me, in my life. I can’t be you.”

“You’re right, I can’t. I just know what I saw. What I saw was who you really are. Someone good who just wants to make people happy, who wants to do what is right.”

“I suppose you are right there.” She says, her ears twitching at the sound of footsteps. “We just have different ways of going about it. Don’t hold back next time.” Standing up she backed away, and then used her semblance to leap from wall to wall, reaching the roof shortly as Ruby watched her go.

“Maybe one day we won’t.” Ruby says as the footsteps get closer.

“Ruby!” Yang’s voice calls out as she comes around the corner, running over to her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine Yang.” Ruby says.

“Are you sure?” She asks, kneeling beside Ruby, “You’re kind of on the ground.”

“I’m sure.” Ruby says, “Just had a run in with Shadow Cat.” She gets up, dusting herself off, when she feels something solid. Reaching into her pocket she pulls out a box about the size of her finger. Opening it she sees a vial with a label reading _Property of Oobleck Laboratories._

“What’s that?” Yang asks, looking over her shoulder. “Sweet, at least you managed to get that back.” She says, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Guess you did something right.” She chuckles.

“Yeah…” Ruby says, looking up where her nemesis had run off, “I guess I did.”

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from here: the-average-procrastinator(.)tumblr(.)com/post/131033873393/weird-au-prompts
> 
> “I’m a superhero and you’re the villain, but I saw you visiting kids at the children’s hospital and letting them act like they defeated you and now it’s really hard to punch you in the face”
> 
> Just an excuse to write about hero Ruby seeing the good in the world. She really wants to help people, even if others don't. Leave a comment if you liked it, or if you have something to say. If it goes over well (my last didn't) i might start posting more often. Anyway, thanks for reading.


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